Six cheat death after hailstorm

Conrad Mupesa
Mash West Bureau
Six Mhangura men narrowly escaped death last Friday after a hailstorm uprooted a huge gum tree before falling on a gazebo and a truck, trapping the driver and five beer drinkers.

Mr Simbarashe Chirau from Sikona in Upper Doma under Mhangura Constituency is a lucky man who is still wondering how he survived the incident that happened at Bazaars shopping centre in Mhangura.

Mr Chirau’s Nissan Hardbody truck was extensively damaged by the tree which also razed down a gazebo in which five imbibers were relaxing.

“I don’t even know how I survived the mishap. It was by the grace of God because my vehicle is a write off,” he said.

Mr Chirau was seated in his open truck vehicle but escaped with only a ripped T-shirt while some men who were drinking beer in the gazebo sustained minor injuries.

“At first we thought the driver of the vehicle had died from the impact of the tree, but miraculously, he came out of the vehicle some 20 minutes later. We had engaged police to help,” said one witness Mr Cosmas Musoya.

According to residents, the eucalyptus trees were planted in the 1970s and are now a threat to people, especially during storms and strong winds.

Meanwhile, two local farmers in the same area lost farming inputs and grains after a hailstorm ripped off roofs of sheds and storerooms.

The hailstorm left a trail of destruction as it ripped off galvanised sheets off trusses, exposing 18 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, 12 tonnes of Compound D fertiliser and 20 tonnes of lime to rain.

More than 20 tonnes of maize, wheat and other crops were left exposed after heavy rains fell in the area. The rains expected to continue until Sunday.

Victory Farm Plot 5 holder, Lieutenant Colonel Usher Cakana (Retired) said strong winds blew off the roof of his storerooms.

“The whole roof was blown away, destroying some fertilisers, lime and grains. The estimated cost of the damaged inputs is about $300 000. I am still calculating the amount of grain that I lost.”

Former Zimbabwe Farmers Union first vice president, Mr Berean Mukwende, whose farm was also affected by the hailstorm, said more than 100 of his pigs were now in the open after several pig sties were destroyed in the hailstorm.